sovereigntistn.adj.

1972 Stud. Eng. Lit. 1500–1900 12 439 Even a popular sovereigntist such as John Locke takes care not to confuse the people with the mobile.

2000 Foreign Affairs Nov.–Dec. 10/2 New Sovereigntists relentlessly characterize most international law standards as too amorphous to justify American agreement.

1985 Los Angeles Times 20 Jan. (Final ed.) i. 28/1 Levesque told the delegates after his victory that ‘we are still sovereigntists’.

1992 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 27 Apr. a8/5 He did take to task the English media for referring to him and Parti Québécois Leader Jacques Parizeau as ‘separatists’—a pejorative word, he complained, which conjures up images of breaking up Canada—instead of as ‘sovereigntists’.

2000 N.Y. Times 29 Nov. a8/1 After losing two referendums on independence [for Quebec] during the last two decades, the separatists, known here as sovereigntists, are expected to read the voting results as a cautionary signal for a third referendum.

1986 Maclean's 15 Sept. 61/2 Although such sovereigntist Balladeers as Gilles Vigneault and Félix Leclerc prospered during the 1970s, currrent chart toppers throughout the province are such imported favourites as the British band Eurythmics and rock 'n' rollers Huey Lewis and the News.

1991 Ottawa Citizen 10 Nov. a2/4 He echoed the popular sovereigntist line these days that anglophones would actually be better off in an independent Quebec.

2001 Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 12 Jan. Bouchard was most successful with achieving prosperity for Quebec. His success has not paid off in sovereigntist votes.